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Statements – Voluntariness – Statements to P.O.

State v. Charles W. Mark, 2005 WI App 62, affirmed2006 WI 78
For Mark: Glenn L. Cushing, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding:

¶14 … (I)f probationers are required to choose between answers that will incriminate them in pending or subsequent criminal prosecutions and loss of their conditional liberty as a price for exercising their right to remain silent, the statements are compelled. Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420, 435 (1984); State v. Evans, 77 Wis. 2d 225, 232-35, 252 N.W.2d 664 (1977). Such statements are inadmissible for any evidentiary use in criminal proceedings. State v. Thompson, 142 Wis. 2d 821, 833-34, 419 N.W.2d 564 (Ct. App. 1987).

See also U.S. v. Saechao, 9th Cir No. 04-30156, 8/12/05:

The issue on this appeal is whether a probationer who provides incriminating information to his probation officer in response to questions from that officer, and does so pursuant to a probation condition that requires him to “promptly and truthfully answer all reasonable inquiries” from the officer or face revocation of his probation, is “compelled” to give incriminating evidence within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. Because we conclude that the state took the “impermissible step” of requiring the probationer “to choose between making incriminating statements and jeopardizing his conditional liberty by remaining silent,” Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420, 436 (1984), we hold that his admission of criminal conduct was compelled by a “classic penalty situation” and the evidence obtained by the probation officer may not be used against him in a criminal proceeding. We therefore affirm the district court’s order suppressing the fruits of the state’s unlawful conduct.

 

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